In the coming weeks, Jim Gottfridsson will try to do something he has never had the chance to do before: defend an EC gold medal in handball.
The location of the mission is not just any.
– We all know that Denmark invented handball – but somewhere it feels like the country of handball is Germany. We will play in fantastic arenas with fantastic crowds. I, who played in Germany for eleven years, can tell from the pressure that it will be a fantastically fun championship, says the Flensburg professional.
Repeating the feat from Budapest two years ago – when Niclas Ekberg decided against Spain with the last throw of the EC final – will be difficult, believes Jim Gottfridsson. But the chances are great if Sweden sticks to its process and “if we stay damage-free”.
In other words it would be desirable if Jim Gottfridsson – who was named the European Championship’s most valuable player in both 2018 and 2022 – does not suffer a fracture in his hand and miss the tournament decider, as he did in last year’s World Cup at home in the quarter-finals against Egypt.
– It was very cruel to throw in the towel with a broken finger stuck in a shirt. I had played a fantastic WC until that day. Who knows what would have happened if you hadn’t been injured, says “Gotte” about the championship that “only” ended with a fourth place.
Jim Gottfridsson’s handball WC came to an end in the quarter-finals due to a hand injury against Egypt. Photo: Joel Marklund/Bildbyrån
Did it take long to get over?
– It actually did. Longer than I thought. I had trained extremely hard and for a long time before that championship and was in one of my better forms. I was hoping to win a medal on home soil, but now it didn’t happen like that.
WC silver 2021, Olympic fifth 2021, EC gold in 2022 and WC fourth in 2023.
Since Glenn Solberg took over as national team captain, Sweden has not only won a single championship, but has shown impressive consistency.
Jim Gottfridsson has played in the national team since 2012 and admits that the demands have become completely different after the Norwegian’s arrival.
– Yes absolutely. I was in a championship for the first time in 2016, which was my toughest and worst. We were second to last in the Olympics, eleven out of twelve teams. We had some good championships with Kristjan (Andrésson, former national team captain) and won a medal (EC silver 2018), but in between there were worse championships. Now it feels like we’ve got better continuity, he says.
“He has formed a foundation of values that we are very loyal to,” says Jim Gottfridsson about Norwegian national team captain Glenn Solberg. Photo: Michael Erichsen/Bildbyrån
The fact that the revolving doors in and out of the national team have become fewer is said to have contributed to stability.
– In the past it was more that you said yes sometimes and no sometimes. You don’t do that now, says Gottfridsson. Everyone agrees to be involved in the whole process so that there is not so much rotation in the squad.
Why does no one say no to the national team anymore?
– I think it’s about how Glenn took the team out and how he formed a foundation of values that we are very loyal to. From this you can see that there will be a continuity.
– What I think is so fun and awesome about this team is that we have a very nice and wonderful harmony. Everyone knows everyone and is very safe in the group, but when it’s handball training, it’s handball training – then it hits without anyone taking it to the changing room or the hotel.
The one who just accepts when it suits, plays a high game with his national team place. Several previously cast cogs have had to experience it the hard way.
After the choice to forgo the handball WC in Egypt in 2021, we have not seen more in the national team of, for example, Lukas Nilsson, Linus Arnesson or Jesper Nielsen (apart from two friendlies for the latter).
It’s the best thing I know, to put on the blue and yellow suit. I think it’s so damn fun.
Another who has been able to follow the success of recent years from the television is the middle six Andreas Nilsson. “The piece” was denied leave shortly before the WC in Egypt, missed the championship and has only now, three years later, been taken to the mercy of Glenn Solberg.
Gottfridsson is happy to have his friend back in the national team.
– If we take “Stycket” as a handball player first and foremost, we get an x-factor. We feel that in training, that something different happens there when he stands there (on the line). He has a strength that not many other middle sixes in the world have.
– We can play a little more on “Stycket’s” strengths – he is extremely good at holding his blocks and working with his defenders behind him. It’s a little Spanish. We can play a little Spanish with him. Then we can play in other ways with other players, which can make us a little unpredictable.
Jim Gottfridsson has reunited in the national team with his friend Andreas “Stycket” Nilsson. Photo: Christoffer Borg Mattisson/Bildbyrån
Just like for Andreas Nilsson, the EC in Germany will be Jim Gottfridsson’s tenth championship.
For over a decade, he has been invaluable to Sweden as a game distributor and leader – but in accordance with the culture that prevails in the national handball team, he does not see himself as more obvious than anyone else.
– In my world, I take nothing for granted. In the national team, you play with the best and I feel just as proud every time I am selected.
Is it still as fun to play in the national team?
– Yes, I think so. It’s the best thing I know, to put on the blue and yellow suit. I think it’s so damn fun.
Sweden plays the EC premiere against Bosnia-Herzegovina on January 11 in Mannheim, Germany. Other teams in the group are the Netherlands and Georgia.
Facts. Jim Gottfridsson
Born: 2 September 1992 in Ystad.
Length: 191 centimeter.
Weight: 93 kilo.
Position: Mittnius
National team debut: 2012 against Ukraine.
International matches/goals: 144/465.
Championship: 9 (OS 2016, VM 2017, EM 2018, VM 2019, EM 2020, VM 2021, OS 2021, EM 2022, VM 2023).
Clubs: IFK Ystad (parent club), Ystads IF (2011–2013) SG Flensburg-Handewitt (2013–).
Merit in selection: EC silver 2018, MVP in EC 2018, Player of the year 2018, WC silver 2021, All star team in WC 2021, EC gold 2022, MVP in EC 2022, Player of the year 2022.
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2024-01-10 05:51:28
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